Thursday, September 10, 2009

"Political schizophrenia has always been one of Fatah’s dominant characters. It continues to shape the overall Fatah discourse.

When addressing Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims, Fatah indulges in all sorts of bombastic rhetoric about the liberation of Palestine.

However, in negotiations with Israel and meetings with visiting Western officials, the leaders of the movement would dutifully assure their interlocutors that the rhetoric was only meant for public consumption and that Fatah would eventually accept a “peace” deal with the Zionist state even if such a deal didn’t meet Palestinian expectations.

I recently asked a prominent Palestinian intellectual who maintains close ties with the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership if he thought that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who is Fatah’s undisputed leader, had any alternative plan in case the Obama peace efforts collapsed.

My interlocutor didn’t mince his words. He said that the only alternative Abbas had to failed negotiations with Israel was more failed negotiations......."